RPOZ51

Because I think it is important to remember what those bastards did that day, and never forget the many innocent lives that were lost, I dug these threads out of the archives:
Ed, our beloved DVL, started the first thread in 2005. I read it again two years ago, last year, and again today. It moved me then, and it moved me today.

I sincerely apologize if it rips open any old wounds, or if it causes anyone pain to read these things. That is not my intent.

If it hurts too much, please don't open the links. You have my apologies, my sympathies, and my condolences.

I am just afraid that as time passes, 9/11/01 will become just another day, and the meaning will be lost.

What I mean is: How many people even think of the reasons that we commemorate Veterans Day or Memorial Day? Those are now just days we have off, where we can have a 3 day weekend and a reason to have a BBQ.

The media have already begun the process of sanitizing, politically correctizing 9/11. They refer to that horrible day as "the events of 9/11." I'm sorry. They're just plain wrong. 9/11 was not an event. The Super Bowl is an event. The Mardi Gras is an event. Let's call it what it was. It was an attack. A cowardly one at that.

Over three thousand people who went to work that bright sunny Tuesday morning didn't make it home to their loved ones that night.

LJD51

Never Forget!

RPOZ51

I saw my nieces last week. One is six, and one is nine.

I was babysitting the nine year old on Sunday 9/9/01, while her dad, her pregnant mom and her grandparents went to dinner at Windows on the World. What a place that was.

Time is already passing.

Even though it seems like yesterday to me, the older girl is too young to remember. Her smarty pants little sister wasn't even born when it happened.

The attacks of 9/11 will just be something they learn about in school.

RPOZ51

I worked in 2WTC from 1980 or 81 to 1983. I was on 87, 80 and 15.

I'm not sure exactly where this picture was taken, but this is sort of what it looked like if you stood in the Plaza, and looked up . . .

Marc V.

Jan@AutoBuffs

I just spent a 1/2 hour or so with Isabel, explaining to her what happened that day because it's important for her to know what tomorrow means. We watched some videos & looked at some pictures; she had a lot of questions. Isabel was 9 months old in 2001. She said "I'm glad I was a baby so I didn't have to be scared."

EPMM 03 C5

in my lifetime i have been to the towers 4 times. this picture above is what always stuck in my mind when visiting the towers! i would always look up and be like damm this towers are tall my last visit there was in the fall of 2000 and i'll never forget it just like we all should'nt forget about that day

atlastc6

Let us never forget

Ralphyboy

A good friend of mine worked at Cantor Fitzgerald. He wasn't there that day, but the memory still haunts him. From time to time, we would talk about it.He feels like God spared him, because his wife lost her husband to cancer many years before he met her . They married, and seem to be pretty happy. Ken felt that God didn't want her to lose another husband, and her kids to lose another father.It's a tough burden for him to bear at times, especially this time of year. He's a great guy, and a good friend.Why does stuff like this happen? My own memories of 9/11 are trivial in light of his, and those of us who lost family and friends that day.

RPOZ51

This sculpture always used to fascinate me. It was called, "The Sphere," or something like that. But that's not what we called it. We used to call it, "The Head."


It was in a fountain in the Plaza between the two towers. It was supposed to represent world peace or something. One day, I'm looking at it, and I say out loud, "Hey. It wasn't facing that way when we got here."

My friends, of course, thought I was nuts, or toasted. Back in those days, it wasn't unusual to have a beer or a cocktail (or two) at lunchtime.

One day, we went up to the Observation Deck after work, and I pick up one of those tourist brochures (I still have it somewhere). The brochure says that the Head rotates!! So, I'm not nuts!

It used to turn one revolution per day. So, if you werenn't paying attention, you probably wouldn't notice it.

This is what it looked like when they dug it out of the rubble:




Today, it is in Battery Park City:



I'm pretty sure it doesn't rotate anymore.

See: Wikipedia article

pbadad

Sparkieeee

We just dove by Ground Zero ..... it made me sick to my stomach.
A friend of ours took these - some are from 9/12, some from 9/13
I just scanned them ... it has taken years just to look at them.

BrooklynC6

We lost a close family friend and neighbor that day , and I know countless others who lost friends and family .

I pass that damnned hole everyday , and I still get sad and furious .

Never forget , and God bless the ones who were lost

GeorgeZNJ

NEVER FORGET, NEVER GET CAUGHT WITH YOUR GUARD DOWN. As much as it sucks to re-read this stuff, and re-live it, we have to. We owe it the people who lost their lives there, and afterward. We owe it the people who are still losing their lives from it. And we owe it the people who entrust their well being and lives to us(children) to re-live it and never forget. Thanks for posting this Tom, it makes us remember.

pastorbrad

'Nuff said.

redrider

Inspiring...A fitting and lasting tribute to those who gave their lives that fateful day.
M.
****************
Subject: USS New York (LPD 21)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2081/...05c64824.jpg?v

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2376/...1417da7f.jpg?v
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3283/...1b381c40.jpg?v
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2061/...eab73e5c.jpg?v

Here SHE is, the USS New York LPD 21, made from the World Trade Center!

It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the
World Trade Center .

It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions
that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of
360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by
helicopters and assault craft.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite , LA to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept 9, 2003, 'those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence,' recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. 'It was a spiritual moment for everybody there.'

Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the 'hair on my neck stood up.' 'It had a big meaning to it for all of us,' he said. 'They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be back.'

The ship's motto? 'Never Forget'

Please keep this going so everyone can see what we are
made of in this blessed country! God Bless America

Alex1217

A few of us posted our experiences here in OT:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=2129374

It's important to always remember and to tell those who weren't around about that day so that hopefully, History will never repeat itself.

RPOZ51

Here are a couple of pics of the Trade under construction, back in the 60s.

I remember walking downtown with my dad, and watching them as they were being built. They'd get taller, and taller each time we went downtown. They gradually peeked up over the skyline, and eventually dwarfed every building around them.





Truth be told, they weren't exactly universally loved as New York icons, at least not at first.

A lot of businesses were displaced to make room for them. They were criticized as glass and steel monolithic monstrosities, and it took quite a while for them to fill up with tenants.

When my company first moved into 2WTC, it became the largest private tenant in the Trade at the time. They had from 77 to 92, and later added 14 and 15. I was totally fascinated. The express elevators, the sky lobby, the views, the observation deck. The whole thing.

I thought it was beautiful. I'd always look for it wherever I went. You could see it from Jersey, City Island, over the Whitestone, from parts of Long Island.

Secret Vette Girl

Thanks to everyone who posted tonight. I wasn't part of the Vette community (yet) at the point so I've never seen these postings. I was in Italy (my first time out of the country) on 9/11. It was frightening to be in a foreign country and not know what was going to happen next, or when we were going to be able to get home...I have so many stories. But every Italian we met after that was incredible. The hotel was booked, but told us they would keep a room for us, people came up to us on the street offering condolences. The flight attendant in the airport started crying and telling us how sorry she was. It was truly a time when we united with other countries...

Sparkieeee

I remember driving past them on the West Side Highway ... back when it was an elevated highway. The construction workers used to write stuff on the beams.